Control-Command Architecture for a Mobile Robot Using Articulated Limbs

1. A mobile robot having articulated limbs, the robot comprising: a plurality of subsets of sensors and actuators, each subset being controlled by an electronic card, wherein a control function for at least one of the electronic cards is distributed between at least a first computer and a second computer, said first and second computers are each unique and located on-board said robot, said first computer is distinct from said second computer and also distinct from said at least one of the electronic cards controlling a subset of sensors and actuators, and said first computer transmits to said at least one of the electronic cards, command messages for executing functions defined by the second computer and wherein communications between the first computer and the at least one of the electronic cards is managed by a secure protocol on at least one specific bus, said secure protocol including frames comprising, before bytes of a message, a byte containing at least a destination address and a most significant bit with a chosen value, and after the bytes of the message, at least one byte containing a size of the message and one byte containing a CRC.

2. The mobile robot of claim 1 , wherein certain functions of the mobile robot are programmed in the first computer, said certain functions managing reflexes of the robot by determining commands for the actuators according to values of certain sensor state variables.

3. The mobile robot of claim 1 , wherein certain configuration data of the mobile robot are stored in a memory managed by the first computer, and said configuration data comprises a list of electronic cards controlled, sensors and actuators commanded by said cards, and operating parameters of said sensors and actuators.

4. The mobile robot of claim 1 , wherein the first computer manages an initialization procedure for at least one of the electronic cards of the robot.

5. The mobile robot of claim 1 , further being configured so that the electronic cards of the robot can be replaced by an equivalent card without modifying the programming of either the first computer or the second computer.

6. The mobile robot of claim 1 , further being configured so that the second computer can be replaced by another equivalent computer without modifying programming of the first computer.

7. The mobile robot of claim 1 , wherein the bytes of all of the frames according to said secure protocol have a first byte at a value complementing a most significant bit of the address byte and the first byte in every seven bytes contains the seven most significant bits of the next seven bytes.

8. The mobile robot of claim 1 , wherein said secure protocol includes a simulcast communication mode.

9. The mobile robot of claim 1 , wherein the first computer and the at least one of the electronic cards that it controls are also connected by at least two communication lines, one of which is used to detect operation and the other to assign addresses to said electronic cards.